As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An information handling system may include a tape drive. A tape drive is a mechanical device that controls the movement of magnetic tape within a tape cartridge. A tape drives includes a drive head that reads and writes data to the tape. Over time, debris may accumulate on the head of the tape drive, and the head of the tape drive will need to be cleaned. If the head of the tape drive is not cleaned periodically, the head of the tape drive will cause read and write errors by introducing errors into the data signals that are read from or written to the magnetic tape. Although error identification and correct schemes attempt to correct errors introduced by the head, some error identification and correction schemes involve a lengthy analysis that may involve analyzing several tapes before the process is complete. During this lengthy error identification process, additional errors may be introduced into the signals read from or written to the magnetic tape. The introduction of these additional errors results in more error correction steps, which negatively affects the operation of the tape drive.